Field notes are notes, documentation, sketchings, recordings and photos taken while in the act of observing something. It could be people or an object, experience, event or experiment.

To me there is no hard fast defintion of what constitutes the field part of field notes. If I'm taking field notes, I'm outside of my home. If I attended school, I'd be outside of the classroom. If I'm making notes in a lab, do I consider that field notes? Not sure.

When I'm out and about and taking notes, it's usually to facilitate learning and understanding. I also collect information in order to access at some future point. I use a small memo book, camera and smartphone.

Okay, so here's where I'm going with this. I am smitten with field notes, that is, field notes and Field Notes. I fell for Field Notes while helping Dan Pink to promote his book To Sell is Human. Dan had Aaron Draplin and Coudal Partners customize a To Sell is Human Field Notes memo book.

Then shortly afterward, I saw Aaron's film where he talks about the inspiration behind Field Notes. That did it. I connected with everything Aaron said. Especially where he says, "they mean regular people working really hard."

I spent a couple of afternoons reading what folks had to say about Field Notes on various review Websites.

Nick Long of Ephemeral Pursuits does a masterful job here expressing his thoughts on Field Notes! Actually Nick does a masterful job expressing his sentiments on movies, literature, fine books, epherma and TV shows at Ephemeral Pursuits as well.

I was looking for a few different reviews where I could say, "yeah, me too!" Then I'd post those at my Google + account and move on with my life. The problem was, although I read some really good stuff like Nick's post, I didn't find anything similar to how I feel.

I have a few different ideas and thoughts which I'll present over a series of posts. The first is my take on the Field Notes brand.

The Field Notes Brand

I get the partnership between Aaron and Coudal. I love what they are creating and how they take it to market. My perception of Coudal? In crossing paths with them in cyberspace, I come away with a good feeling. I want to continue learning more about them and keep an eye on stuff they are making. Without Aaron however, there is no Field Notes brand. Well, of course there is a brand. But it isn't the brand that stirs my soul.

Aaron represents working class, real people. He appreciates the thought, design and craftmanship that went into yesteryear's memo books. He appreciates that people wrote stuff of value to them, in them. He gets a little wonky thinking about these prized possessions ending up in a landfill. Aaron's appreciation, thoughts and ideas are the corn that goes into the ethanol of Field Notes.

A brand is a person's gut perception, right? I think a lot of folks are experiencing Field Notes minus the corn of Aaron Draplin. A few popular designers or people who appreciate good design, use the Field Note memo books. They write about what they like. They compare it to Moleskine. Eyebrows are raised. People are turned on and place orders. Even without Aaron these babies are gonna sell. One sign I see to this brand fork in the road reads Hipster. The Coolies with their Cooly minions.

I am simply trying to identify a persona. I make no judgement. Like one famous American once said, "...that's alright this is a free country, live like you wanna live."

The Hipster interstate however, does not run through the cornfields of Illinois, Iowa or Michigan. And, it is my gut feeling that that's where the grist for Aaron Draplin's Field Note's mill comes from. As Aaron says in the film, "...just dudes sittin' around talkin' corn man, that's pretty good!"

Feel like making a comment about Field Notes or this article? Head to my Google + page.

I have relationships with companies doing between $500,000 & $15,000,000 per year. It is these companies that I'm thinking could benefit from these particular types of resources.

Dave's Position on Content Marketing

I believe in it and I believe it should be a company's overall marketing strategy, not a campaign like say, direct mail. There are three things I like about CM. One is the educational component. Two, it provides a platform for a company's leadership and expertise in their field. It accentuates their authority. (Copyblogger has a whole software program built around this concept). Finally, I love the ability to be continually in front of your customers or prospects in a value-providing way as opposed to common advertising in all of its forms.

So if I owned a company, I would want it to be recognized as the drop dead expert in whatever I was involved with. I would want it to be the authority in my particular field.

Are you a plumber, electrical, solar or HVAC contractor? Do you know the technical side of your trade like the back of your hand? Does the business side of your profession however, seem like a foreign language? And no matter how honorable your intentions are, doesn't it seem like you can't muster the time to learn it?

Join the Service Roundtable today! Learn how to run your business in a profitable manner from others who have succeeded in doing just that. In the short clip below the narrator tells us about Sam's secret and what the Service Roundtable has to offer.

I've been engaged with the Service Roundtable since its launch in 2002. They've been cranking out fresh marketing pieces and management tools for contractors every week since. These resources continue to pile up in their coffers and are still accessible today. Not only are they still available, some if not most are of more value today due to interest earned.

How does marketing material and management tools earn interest you ask?

By way of the Service Roundtable community. Community members embrace the material and tools, use them and then often time provide feedback to others. How did it work for them? What could have been added or subtracted to work better? Would they recommend others us it? The other coffer or vault that has been around since Day One is the Idea Exchange center. Ten plus years of knowledge, wisdom and understanding from some of the brightest minds in the industry.

The value that the Service Roundtable provides exceeds cost. But they call your investment and raise you one. The Service Roundtable has a vendor rewards program that provides rebates and discounts to members for making certain purchases. With the variety of vendors in this program there is a fair chance that not only will rebates and discounts cover the cost of membership, you'll end up making money.

I was cutting out coupons this morning when I came across a Colgate ad. It said, "Got a cold? Change your toothbrush after a cold for a fresh start." This seems like such common sense that I must have heard it from someone at least once over the course of my life. I haven't.

I did a quick Google search and found it has been a topic of discussion, but not as frequently as one might think. Another bit of advice that makes sense; microwave your toothbrush a couple of times per week.

Well, I feel pretty good about this newly discovered info, but it prompts a question:

What product, service or thing do we interact with often, that if viewed from a different perspective, would produce an all together different result?

"David."

"Yes Rosemary."

"Did you read the article about the benefits of changing your underwear everyday?"

"No. You've got to be kidding! People really do that? Tawwssss me that tbt* when you're done."

When I was a manager and needed to learn more about Gen Y & Gen X, I studied websites like Brazen Careerist.Penelope Trunk and her crew teach the younger gens how to build and nurture a network of trusted peers. And, they teach these folks how to optimize their experiences with older people like myself. So in essence, I went undercover to learn.

To become a better hiring manager I studied Richard Nelson Bolles' book What Color is Your Parachute? Richard gives job seekers advice on career building and how to get jobs. I went undercover again.

Married dads with kids, consider going undercover to learn more about your wives...

Married dads with children, would you like to better understand your significant other? Take a break from the relationship gurus. Listening to a relationship guru is like Bear Grylls telling you that you can be just like him. You know Bear Grylls from Man vs. Wild, right? You could do what Bear does, if you had his gear, right? Riiiight! Just like you could be the head hunk author in a book titled, How I conquered 20,000 Women by 20, right? Yeah riiiiight! So, put the guru on hold and think about what you can learn, looking at it from a different point of view.

The survey and author's aim is to focus on how marketers can change their strategies to more effectively communicate with women, particularly those between the ages of 18-44. (Don't be distracted by just this age group, common sense will tell you it's applicable to most moms). The data is the result of more pragmatic, business-like questions and less emotional ones. As you read through this business-like report, you can't help but feel the cold, harsh realities that women are up against. If you care about your wife, the answers for how to better communicate with her and how to make her life easier, will permeate your conscious.

Sure a caveman can do it. Now how about you!?

btw, I love the Brazen Careerist web site and still visit often and I am now on my third edition of What Color is Your Parachute? (bought first in 1981).

Monica Hesse of the Washington Post refers to the FreeCreditReport.com commercials as maddeningly catchy ads. This was the first time* I had read or heard anyone talk about these ads. I love them.

For someone to notice and then like a commercial, there must be something that they connect with. I can see where some women might be attracted: Catchy tune, cute guy. Or maybe someone with little ambition: "I'm not working, I'm just going to play music." Or maybe the guy who thinks his wife nags him: "Get a haircut and get a real job."

I like the commercials because the tunes are catchy and because the FreeCreditReport.com guy represents freedom and someone who is enduring obstacles along life's path while pursuing their passion. That's it.

*I originally saw the article in the TBT. I love the TBT and wanted to give them recognition for running the story(guess I just did guys). But because I am the only person on the planet who newspaper search engines will not work for, I found the original story in the Washington Post...by way of Google...their search engine couldn't produce the story either.

Seth Godin wrote this statement in his 2002 book titled Purple Cow. This one sentence is the very essence of the book. One could design their entire company around this one sentence. These words of wisdom will never become outdated. At one point in your life, you must read Seth's book. Period.

Escape From Cubicle Nation is your personal key to freedom! Like a weary soul who scraped, clawed and crawled his way across the desert in search of water, I smoked Pamela Slim's most excellent book in search of liberation. From the tiny molecule in my soul who is standing atop the mountain screaming "no more bosses!" to my entire and collective soul who is getting dry heaves even thinking about Monday mornings, I simply cannot make a more heart felt and direct recommendation: Buy Pam's book today!

Escape From Cubicle Nation is a treasure and as such, I will dip in and review parts of this book with care and reverence. I will treat it like a fine wine or a seminal Clint Eastwood classic, to be sipped and reveled upon.